Chapter 347: Tree Hill Hall

Wednesday, February 1st, Evening (Eastern Standard Time)

One of the nice things about Tree Hill Hall, Brett Pierce-Burke reflected, was that it was more permissive to have friends over. Brett took advantage and invited a few friends over, to as they called it, the woods. They collected in one of the rooms and watching the Miami/ Atlanta game.

Brett sprawled out on one of the sofas tucked into the arm of her boyfriend, Garvan Muir. On one of the other sofas Forrest Nez and Nessa Coleman, cuddling. Also in the room were Avril Popova and Baylee Miller. There were two more bodies in the room watching the game, sitting on the floor.

Two of Brett's sisters were in the room, Momma Chase's oldest two, Paige "PJ" Burke and Keelan "Key" Burke. They were here because Forrest and Garvan were here. One rule here, if there were boys over one or more of Brett's younger siblings had to be there. Thank god her dad was working tonight, or he'd be here watching the game with them, as well.

"Hey, Brett," Nessa said.

Brett sat up a bit to look at Nessa. Playfully, Brett mussed PJ's hair; the eleven-year-old looked up at Brett and growled at her. Brett gave her sister a look. PJ looked back and stuck out her tongue, which Brett returned. The sisters smiled at each other, and Brett looked at Nessa.

"Yes, Nes?" Brett asked.

"What's the story between you and Sawyer Scott?" Nessa asked.

"God," Garvan said.

"How much time do you have?" Baylee asked.

"Hey, been nice to Sawyer; Momma will kill you if you aren't," PJ said; Key nodded silently next to her sister.

"In short, I was raised with her," Brett said, "I was living with my Poppa Nate, then, and they kept me with LK, Sawyer, and Keni."

"Oh," Nessa said.

Someone walked into the room and slipped next to Baylee. Alexis Moura had just rejoined her friends and looked around. "So, what are we discussing?" Alexis asked.

"Sawyer and Brett's relationship," Avril said.

"Isn't she a bit young for you?" Garvan asked.

"Very funny, Garvan," Brett said.

"I do have one question," Alexis said.

"Okay," Brett said.

"I cheer with Sawyer, and when we're doing a basketball, she seems more interested in the game than cheering the game," Alexis said.

Brett yawned, "Because she's not into cheering," she said.

"I know that, but why?" Alexis asked.

"She's not supposed to be there," Avril said and stretched her large frame on the floor.

"What?" Alexis asked.

"Do you want to tell the story, or should I?" Baylee asked.

"Go ahead, you like telling it, and I'll fill in what I think needs to be added," Brett said.

"Okay," Baylee said and turned to look at Alexis, "Sawyer trained with us when she was younger. Being two years older than her, she was training to compliment us. Suddenly, one day she stopped showing up and just quit, like that."

"That makes no sense," Alexis said.

"Sawyer was going to be our off the bench catch and shoot player," Avril said.

Brett chuckled; Alexis looked at her, "What's so funny?" she asked.

"She was a sniper," Brett said.

"That she was," Baylee said.

"Why did she give it all up?" Alexis said.

"That happened about four years ago; she suddenly just gave it up," Brett said and shook her head, "That's before everything went to shit."

"OO, you swore," PJ said.

Brett looked at her sister. "Are you going to tell on me?" she asked.

PJ shook her head; Brett smiled at her and mussed her hair again. Looking up, Brett looked to Alexis.

"I wonder why she quit," Alexis said.

"So, do I," Baylee said.

"You don't know?" Alexis asked.

"Nope, Sawyer doesn't talk about that time that much. It's one of the great mysteries of Sawyer Scott," Brett said.

Alexis nodded, "What's with the weird interest in sci-fi," she asked.

"That's Tucker," Avril said.

"Yeah, my uncle is into that stuff, and he spent a lot of time watching us," Brett said.

Someone walked into the room. Brett looked up to see her step-mom Chastity "Chase" Burke, nee Adams, standing in the door. Brett nodded and looked down at her sisters.

"Key, PJ, time to get ready for bed," Chase said.

"Yes, Momma," Key said, get up, and headed out of the room.

PJ nodded, stood up, and headed up to the room. Chase smiled and looked over at the teenagers. "Now that the cats are away, the mice shouldn't play," Chase said.

A chorus of "Yes, Mrs. Burke" followed that Chase smiled and left the room. Brett laid back down with Garvan.

"PJ's getting big," Avril said.

"Brett nodded, "Yes, she is," she said.

"She's almost going to be tall as me," Avril said.

"She's tall for her age," Brett said.

"Does she play ball?" Avril asked.

"Both PJ and Key do," Brett said.

"You have to see PJ play, AV," Baylee said.

"How's that?" Avril said.

"She's going to be a bruiser," Baylee said.

"Oh yeah?" Avril said.

"Yeah, she plays just like Brett," Baylee said.

"I wonder why," Garvan said and looked over to Brett.

"I've seen footage of my dad play, and I know where she gets it," Brett said.

"So, it's your dad," Nessa said.

Brett smiled, "Yeah," she said and nodded.

"Your dad was a bruiser under the boards. He played basketball like a football player," Baylee said.

"Well, he was the starting tight end in high school," Brett said.

"I find it hard to believe," Nessa said, "Mister Burke is such a nice guy."

"Not everyone is the same when they step inside the sidelines," Avril said.

Nessa nodded, "I see," she said.

"Well, the game is almost over," Garvan said and started to get up.

Baylee sighed, "Yeah," she said.

"What does that mean?" Nessa asked.

"Mrs. Burke kicks us out because the kids are in bed," Forrest said.

"That's true?" Nessa asked.

Brett nodded, "Yes, it is," she said and watched the screen as the final seconds of the games. Miami beats Atlanta one-sixteen to ninety-three; James Scott led Miami in points scored, with twenty-seven points and assists with five. Brett smiled and stood up.

Slowly, each one of the teenagers got up and made their goodbyes. Brett walked the last one out and closed the door behind them. Once the last of her friends were gone, Brett cleaned up and went to bed.